Department of Organisation and Industrial Sociology (OIS)
Department of Organisation and Industrial Sociology (OIS)
The Department of Organisation and Industrial Sociology (OIS) aims to generate and communicate new useful and relevant knowledge about the organisation and development of business to inspire practitioners to engage in novel ideas and action. The Department staff deal with organisational change and development in a number of industries and sectors that are crucial to society, e.g. in biotechnology, film and media as well as health, construction, environment and energy. The Department's research draws on several disciplines, especially within social sciences, and is based on in-depth empirical studies of practice in private and public organisations and NGOs. It is the Department's ambition to achieve international recognition and to further develop research collaboration with both Danish and international practitioners within a variety of sectors.
Highlights of 2005
- The Department had a number of well-reputed international visitors: Eero Vaara, Helsinki School of Economics and Ecole de Management de Lyon; Hans Joas, Uppsala University; Steve Barley, Stanford University; Woody Powell, Stanford University; Ralph Stacey, University of Hertfordshire, and Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney
- The Department organised or co-organised several university seminars, including "Frontiers of Strategy Research" with professors Jay Barney and Ralph Stacey; "Culture, Narrative and Mind" with professors Jerome Bruner and Carol Feldman; "The creativity of action" with professor Hans Joas; and "Management Education and the Pursuit of Relevance" with honorary doctor at CBS James G. March
- The Department's production of foreign-language publications increased, and the Department attracted a number of external grants from both public and private bodies
- Two new Department centres were established: the Centrer for Health Management and the Centrer for Management Studies of the Building Process. The former focuses on the changes in the conditions of management and the handling of assignments in the health sector. The Center carries on the pioneering research conducted within the framework of the Research Center for Hospital Management and Organization (FLOS) from 1999-2004. The Center for Management Studies of the Building Process is a virtual CBS research centre. The Center is financed by the Realdania Foundation and the participating enterprises and institutions. It comprises a network of researchers and projects that are physically and institutionally separate, but connected through joint research and presentation activities
- The appointment of Claus Valentiner, Henning Camre and Jes Søgaard marked the beginning of a closer academic collaboration with persons holding very central positions in the network of managers and politicians in the Danish service, film and health sectors
- The Department continued its endeavours to develop into a project-based organisation, for example, by letting several members of the technical/administrative and scientific staff participate in post-experience courses on project management.
Academic profile
The Department's research aims to identify and understand changes in working life and business. It is our ambition to challenge traditional and usual notions of strategy, organisation and management. The Department's academic profile is characterised by a research approach and method of making realistic assumptions as to the uncertainty and complexity influencing business development today. We study the processes, through which activities are organised and modified; we examine the relations and interaction between various actors; and we conduct in-depth empirical analyses.
Most of the Department's research projects are thus aimed at current empirical issues concerning the organisation and development of working life in many different types of organisations, sectors and industries. Our attention is not only directed at individual organisations, but also at their interaction with the wider institutional context. The Department's research staff base their analyses on a wide range of social science theories, including behavioural, cultural, complexity and institutional theories, but they are increasingly supplemented by language and communication theory as well as actor-network theory. The conditions and processes, under which organisations emerge and develop, are pivotal elements of much of the Department's research.
Research strategy
The Department's research strategy spans different disciplines and domains and different analytical levels in our empirical studies of management and organisation in Danish industry. It includes publishing our research results internationally and communicating them to our students as well as external stakeholders.
Hence, it is the Department's ambition to address issues that are of importance to the development of Danish society. This is achieved through a number of individual projects as well as major project complexes and/or centres, e.g. the CINEMA project, the Center for Health Management and the Center for Management Studies of the Building Process. The Department wishes to continue the consolidation of research activities that is achieved through project organisation, and it therefore encourages its staff to seek external funding, establish projects and be part of centres. At the same time international presentation of the Department's research results must be strengthened through increased publication in international research networks/projects and conferences. The Department wishes to strengthen its international profile in order to be an internationally recognised department of organisational research.
Research results
Department staff published articles in a number of important journals in 2005, including Strategic Organization, Economics and Society, Organization, Scandinavian Journal of Information Management, Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Scandinavian Journal of Management.
The number of articles in foreign-language journals and books grew compared with 2004, cf. Figure 1. Nevertheless, this is offset by the decline in Nordic-language publications that reflect the Department's increased commitment to the former type of publications. Measured by the number of contributions to proceedings etc., the staff's participation in conferences seems to be at the same level as the two previous years. On the other hand, it looks as if fewer working papers were prepared/registered than before.
Figure 1
Despite the Department's increasing international publication rate, it still fails to fulfil its ambitions. For that reason, international publication will be given high priority in the years to come – also when recruiting new staff. Yet, greater weight must be attached to targeted international publication than has previously been the case, for example, by differentiating research time.
Research relations to practice
Communication of research results is important in order to safeguard research relations to practice, and it is gratifying that the Department researchers continue to be very active in this field (cf. the Other publications category in Figure 1). In addition, the Department's relations to practice are developed in particular through its research partnerships with the business community (in projects, centres and innovation consortia), our post-experience courses (the HD and summer school activities) and the executive master's programmes (MPA, MBA-TMO, MMD and MHM).
One indicator of the Department's commitment to partnerships with the business community is the external funding of research. Another is the Department's collaboration with external partners in connection with the industrial research training programme. In 2005, the Department's enrolment included three industrial researchers.
Figure 2 shows that the Department attracted substantial external funding in the form of partnership funds in 2005. The majority of these funds are from the Realdania Foundation for the funding of the Center for Management Studies of the Building Process.
Figure 2
Furthermore, the Department received grants from the Research Councils for various projects and for the internationalisation of the researcher development centre. More strategic approaches will be important in the future. Internal funding allocations were used for extraordinary commitments to internationalisation and temporary appointments of visiting professors etc.
Last updated by Martin Iskou Olsen 26/11/2008
